What Once Was Lost
by VanillaAshes
Summary: Losing a child can be the hardest thing, especially if you know they are out there somewhere. Finding them again can be emotional, especially if you have been living with them for month.
1. I'll have answers

**Author's Note:**

 **This should only be a few chapters long, so don't expect more then ten chapters!**

 **This chapter is set during season one, episode 12, 'Seeds'.**

 **Need to give a shout out to two people: Sanctuaria, who helped me right at the beginning of writing chapter one; And my amazing beta, who edited this chapter and will further chapters and assisted with the summary and most importantly, the name of this story: TheVioletofMine, u/5504425.**

* * *

May had just dropped Skye, Fitzsimmons and Ward off at the Academy, and was currently heading to a place she hasn't been to in over twenty years. She left the cockpit after inputting the destination and sought out Coulson.

"You have got to put that away," she informed him when she discovered he was still reading the T.A.H.I.T.I. report.

"How can I? You've read it," he responded.

"And _you_ have to _stop_ reading it," May told him; her voice was bored at the conversation even though it had just started. He was complicating things and him going insane was a possibility.

Coulson sighed- either at her request, what he was reading, or both. "I just can't get my head around it." He confessed, not looking up at her, eyes cast downwards, "I remember what happened, the pain… but I also remember Tahiti, as if-"

"What's in the file is the truth," May interrupted. She needed to get his mind off of this, and knew that telling him the truth was probably the best idea; it could help him have closure in the matter.

Coulson looked up at her defiantly. His trust in her was wavering after finding out that she knew about his death.

"Says who?" He questioned.

"Director Fury."

"If I hadn't asked, he would have kept it from me," Coulson spoke. "Kept me from knowing."

"And now that you know, you feel better?" May questioned, the sarcastic tone in her voice only slightly peeking through. She knew that he didn't know why it was kept from him, and she knew that he wanted to know… but the more he knew, the worse it could get. All that was running through May's head was _honesty_ \- honesty would help. "Put it away," she said softly, less of an order than before.

With a look at her, he closed the file and stood up. "Want to tell me why we're flying to South Dakota?"

"To get your head working on something else," May answered cryptically. "I looked into Skye's past like you asked- into the agent that dropped her off at the orphanage."

"Agent Avery. She was killed," Coulson spoke confidently.

May shook her head. "I don't know why she was killed, but it had nothing to do with Skye. She was not the person who dropped her off at the orphanage." She stopped.

"You've suddenly become active on the Skye investigation," Coulson pointed out, his eyes showing his skepticism at the new piece of information she'd just provided.

"She's proved herself, stepped up in a big way-for our team, for you," May answered, rationalizing why she had first looked into Skye's background. Although, in truth, as soon as she saw what redacted file Skye had discovered, she would have used any reason available to look into it further.

"Is that it?" Coulson asked, and for a moment, May thought he might know what was really going on. "Or are you just trying to distract me?"

May looked away from him. She _was_ trying to distract him, but more than anything she didn't want to keep any secrets from him-she needed to talk things through with somebody, and Coulson was one of her closest and oldest friends. "Both," she answered before adding, "and something else." She turned to face him directly.

Coulson's expression remained mostly neutral, his mind obviously still on the T.A.H.I.T.I. incident. "Which is?" he prompted.

" _I_ dropped Skye off at the orphanage," she told him simply, choosing not to expand on the subject and instead turning and walking back to the cockpit. As she sat down she saw Coulson take a seat behind her, strapping himself in and looking at the controls as if he knew how to use them-which he didn't.

"Why didn't you say anything before?" he asked.

May sighed. "At first, I didn't know. After you looked into that file and showed it to me, I asked Agent Avery if she wanted to put her name on it for extra credit and she created a little story to go with it." Coulson looked at her, confused. "She was going to tell people that she found the baby in the arms of a dead 'bad guy' and put her into foster care so she could have a chance to grow up normally."

"What really happened?" Coulson asked.

May's lips went into a narrow line. " _I_ put her into foster care." She was glad when Coulson remained quiet for a few minutes, grateful for the respite.

"Are you going to tell her it was you? She'll have questions," he asked her eventually, no pressure in his voice. He was simply asking the question, not adding in his opinion-although she knew that would come sooner or later.

"I'll have answers."

* * *

May landed the plane in South Dakota and took a seat in Lola. Coulson didn't even bat an eyelid as he got into the driver's seat and took off- it seemed that he was still deep in thought about May's answers regarding Skye. He followed her directions and ended up parking in the middle of a storage container area. May was the first out of the car, the only one of the two of them who knew what was going on and why they were here. Coulson followed her after a few seconds.

"What's in the box?" he asked.

"Some of my personal belongings," May answered, glancing back at him to see him actually look surprised. Without any hesitation, she entered the code to the container and entered, waiting for Coulson to walk in after her and then closing the doors. She turned and examined the safe to make sure that nobody had tampered with it before performing the six complicated steps to unlock it.

"Must be some really important personal items," Coulson commented.

May didn't respond, simply pulling the door of the safe open and peering inside it. There were seven boxes, most of them rectangular and 100cm x 50cm x 40cm. Two of them were smaller. She reached in and pulled out one of them and placed it on the floor before locking the safe again. "Let's go."

Coulson furrowed his brows but walked out of the container and back into the car. "What's in the box?" he asked as soon as she had gotten in the car with him.

May moved the box from her lap to the backseat. "Everything about Skye and her parents that I have written down."

Coulson raised an eyebrow at her, "How did you come in contact with Skye as a baby?"

"I was on a mission," May answered shortly. "Drive."

* * *

Coulson attempted to get more information out of May on the plane ride back but ultimately failed. They landed back at the Academy to pick up their team, both knowing she was still hiding something. Everyone— minus Ward, who had stayed behind— was quiet as they walked back to the Bus until Fitz finally broke it.

"How could I have been so stupid?" the young engineer muttered.

"Fitz, will you stop?" Simmons asked, but it was full of concern and support.

Fitz looked at Coulson and practically ignored her, but it wasn't in a rude way. "I'm sorry, Sir; it was my fault."

"Any word on the missing cadets?" Coulson asked, pushing aside Fitz's remark and jumping straight into the mission. It seemed that May had managed to get him to focus again instead of relentlessly looking at the T.A.H.I.T.I. situation.

"Ward's coordinating the search effort with Agent Weaver," Simmons informed him before continuing. "They've set up a perimeter and are going building to building."

Skye stepped forward, a curious look on her face. "Where'd you guys go? We were trying to reach you."

"Not now," Coulson said, dismissing her before turning back to Simmons, who seemed to be the only one out of her, Fitz, and Skye who was fully focused on the mission. "How dangerous are they?"

"Extremely dangerous. This device turns any moisture around it to ice, very rapidly and at a great rate," Simmons informed him, seeming to dumb-down how the device worked for them.

"But Donnie is a good kid," Fitz added, looking at them with trust and naïveté as he came to Donnie's defense. "He just felt isolated. Seth must have befriended him to manipulate him, using him to finish the product…" He drifted off.

"Product?" May asked, her eyes squinting ever so slightly at Fitz's choice of words.

"Okay, I think they have a backer," Fitz informed them as he obviously just came to this conclusion. "The device's components are incredibly rare and expensive, nothing either of them could find on the open market themselves."

"If the parts are that rare, we can trace the purchases," Skye suggested.

"Sometimes, it's not a bad seed- just a bad influence," Coulson added. May was pretty sure he said it all for dramatic effect; he loved his one-liners. "Let's go."

May watched as they walked off. She signaled Coulson that she was going to be in the cockpit and headed the other direction.

Shortly after sitting down in the cockpit, Coulson arrived. "We have an idea how to stop the storm. I need you to fly the plane straight into the eye."

"Easy," May responded confidently as she started the engine. "You didn't say anything to Skye?"

"No, but the cold shoulder is not going to work for long," Coulson told her.

May shrugged that bit off. "I'll talk to her later."

The rest of the day involved flying the plane into the center of a superstorm, flying it back out, and listening to the distraught cries of Donnie over the loss of his friend. She ended up staying in the cockpit longer than necessary, even when they were back in the air on a steady and gentle path to their next destination. When she finally stood up and walked out of the room, she wasn't that surprised to discover that Skye, Fitz, and Simmons were all standing together talking.

"Skye, a moment?" May requested. As much as she had aimed for it to come out softly, giving Skye the choice to come with her, it came out as an order, cold and clipped as usual.

Skye looked up at her, her mouth slightly agape, before she nodded, put on a smile, and stood up. "Of course."

May turned and walked into her own quarters, where the box was. She sat on the bed and watched as Skye hesitantly followed her in. "Close the door. Take a seat."

Skye followed her instructions and looked around awkwardly, her eyes fixated on the box for a few moments-that being the only real object in the room other than the bed and side cabinet. She bit her lip. "Am I in trouble?" she asked.

May took a breath in, which a second later she realized one could mistake for annoyance, and just spoke to get it over with. "What I say in this room must not be repeated; do you understand me?"

"Yes," Skye said instantly.

May nodded and opened the box. She took out two envelopes before putting the lid back on it and twisting her body so that she was looking at Skye more directly. She took her time opening one of the envelopes and pulling out a picture of a man. She laid it down on the box between them. "That is your father."

Skye's hands grabbed the picture quickly as she stared at it, eyes wide and hopeful. "Who is he?"

It took May a few seconds to answer; not that Skye noticed. "Sergei Kravinoff, who most people know as 'Kraven the Hunter'. He's dead."

Skye looked up at her, mouth agape at the information. "He wasn't a good guy?" she asked. It was obvious she was trying to sound strong but failing.

May almost backed out right then. It would be easy to; there was no connection to be made past who her father was. "He was not… a good guy," she answered before beginning to talk in more detail. "He had a half-brother, Dmitri Smerdyakov, formally known as Chameleon-also deceased." Skye nodded tearfully, taking in the information. May retrieved another picture and held it out to Skye. It was a picture of Sergei holding her as a baby. "Your father loved you very much."

Skye slowly took the picture; it looked like her heart was breaking and filling at the same time. "That's me?" she asked with a small smile gracing her lips. "He knew me… did he want to give me up?"

"He died; he didn't have a choice," May answered and then carried on talking, a lot more than Skye would ever have imagined was possible. "Your half-uncle was on S.H.I.E.L.D's radar. I was set on a mission to infiltrate his life and work out a way to take him out after extracting all the information I could. A few agents had attempted before and failed, usually by getting found out and killed, but we had learned about his half-brother. It was always set to be a long undercover mission: the only way into their life was for me to fully insert myself into it in any possible way-that way was your father."

"So you knew him?" Skye asked, although the answer was obvious.

"Yes. Within a six weeks of first beginning the mission, I was involved with him and had met his half-brother once; it was the longest time anybody had managed to have in direct contact with him and I gathered some valuable information," May disclosed and only took a second before she continued talking. "The longer I was undercover, the more I noticed that your father was equally as dangerous as his half-brother."

May looked at Skye's face, taking in all the information, listening to every single word like it was her lifeline and decided that she could tell her all the filler information another time. "In total, I was undercover for 15 months. I let my emotions get the best of me and I fell in love with him. It compromised my judgement in certain situations and five months into it, I discovered I was pregnant. At that time, things were a little tense, my cover was shaky and your half-uncle was suspicious and your father's trust was a little shaky because of that-I had to make a judgment call about if I should tell him about the pregnancy, if I should tell S.H.I.E.L.D., if I should leave. It was one night when I realized that I hadn't even considered not having you and I realized that I couldn't _not_ tell your father that you existed; it would have been wrong. So I told him and it made my cover so strong and your father so determined to keep me safe that even if I did pull out of the mission, he would do anything to find us, and I'm not sure if-" She stopped for a moment, composing herself and staying on topic; she didn't want to talk about Skye's father. This was already too emotional for her to keep it in. "I knew that if S.H.I.E.L.D. knew I had been compromised, they would have pulled me out, so, I lied to them and told them I was going to fake a pregnancy. They were pissed when you were born; their suspicions were confirmed. They couldn't do anything about it then; we were so close, and if they pulled me out, everything we worked towards would have been for nothing; it was far too late to pull me out. When you were ten weeks old, your father died and we no longer had his protection. Your half-uncle would have killed you in a heartbeat as soon as he worked out that I was working with S.H.I.E.L.D. and I was sure he knew something wasn't right about me. I put you into foster care for protection to keep you safe and hidden, and I made sure to specify that you needed to be moved around constantly. It worked better than I thought possible, because even I couldn't find you once everything was settled. I guess I made you too untraceable-the fear of what he could do to you was too great. After a year of searching, I heard about a little girl who matched your age and description-an orphan-who had drowned. Out of fear that it was you, I stopped looking. I regret my decision, I should have carried on until I knew or found you."

Skye's face showed everything, showed when she realized what May had said and it clocked on exactly what was going on. "You're… you're my mother?" She seemed to ignore everything else that May had said and focused on that one detail; it seemed that May hadn't needed to give a long explanation.

May nodded firmly, her face devoid of emotion. She placed the second envelope on the box and watched as Skye gently picked it up and pulled some of the photos out. One of the first ones she saw was a younger-looking May smiling into the camera, holding a baby wrapped in a pink blanket- and May was actually smiling. A smile had crept onto Skye's face by the time she looked at the next photo and it actually increased when she saw May looking, terrified, at Skye, who appeared to be falling off the couch. May saw the picture and cleared her throat. "That photo was timed badly."

"It's my favorite photo of you," Skye declared before she started to put it back in the envelope.

"You can keep it, if you want," May spoke. "This whole box is yours. It's from the first ten weeks of your life." She watched as Skye's hand touched the box hesitantly, a look of awe on her face; she had yet to fully react to finding out that May was her mother, and to be honest, that scared May.

"This is so cool," Skye announced. "Best… I can't believe you're my mother! I mean, we are nothing alike, you're all serious and stoic-in a good way. It's just… I never imagined that I'd actually find my parents, especially not after I've actually lived with them for weeks!"

"It was a surprise when I figured it out," May admitted, feeling relieved that Skye didn't appear to be upset about finding out that she was her mother.

"Can I… can I look in the box?" Skye asked, looking up at her. May simply nodded and watched as she smiled in return before pulling the lid off and looking inside. However, she didn't touch anything in it- instead, she looked up at May, "You said that I'm not allowed to tell anybody anything that you tell me in here- Does that mean I can't tell them you're my mother?"

May opened her mouth to reply, but it took her a second to allow her words to sink in, "You and I are currently the only people who know that I am your mother."

"Coulson doesn't know?" Skye asked. May shook her head. "I guess that means I shouldn't call you 'Mom'," she joked, laughing a bit.

"It is probably best that you didn't right now," May answered strategically before taking out a baby's outfit. "There's only one other living person who knows that I have a daughter who _could_ be alive."

"Was that mine?" Skye inquired as she picked up the onesie.

"Yes, it was your first outfit; you've grown a lot," May reminisced.

"I can't believe I was that small," Skye added. "Do you have a photo of me wearing it?"

May gave a single nod as she looked through the first envelope. She flicked through them carefully. Finding the photo she was looking for, she held it out to Skye. "That was taken the day you were born."

Skye barely glanced at the picture before looking up at May, "I don't even know my birthday."

"July 2nd, six pounds, nine ounces, 5:49 A.M." May told her, answering her question and giving further information that she believed to be relevant. "I was in labour for three hours and you were the most beautiful baby girl I had ever seen. When they placed you in my arms, I was so tempted to go rogue, leave S.H.I.E.L.D. behind and run off with your father-although that would have involve telling your father the truth."

Skye had tears in her eyes, her emotions obviously running high with the truckload of information. Without any restraint, she leant over the box and hugged May. May pushed the box to one side as she hugged back. "I'm glad you're my mom." May closed her eyes as she embraced Skye a little tighter before they parted; she smiled softly as Skye turned back to the box and pulled out a small blanket with the name Rebecca sewn on it. "Rebecca… Is that my name?"

May nodded. "Rebecca Chao-Xing May."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading :)**


	2. Just a normal day at the office

**Author's Note:**

 **Wow, as I received an amazing response on the first chapter, I've decided to post the second chapter earlier than I planned! I can't say that the next will be posted as quickly though.**

 **Thank you so much to those who reviewed, fav'ed and followed this story already, I'm overwhelmed!**

 **Set during, Season 1, episode 13: TRACKS.**

 **Shout out to my amazing beta, ThisVioletOfMine.**

* * *

May stood with Fitzsimmons and Ward; they had been summoned for a meeting with Coulson, and were ready for their next mission.

"Ian Quinn," Coulson announced as he walked into the room, Skye right behind him.

May's gaze moved from Skye to Coulson in a heartbeat at his words. "You found him." She stated, ready to jump into action.

"No," Coulson replied, looking at her. She had assumed incorrectly. "But we think we know how we can." His response was vague; however, what followed was less vague as he went into detail. "Skye tracked down an invoice from one of his shell companies. He made a big purchase recently."

 _"$10 million_ big," Skye clarified, looking from Coulson to May to the rest of the team.

"Any idea what it is?" Simmons questioned when Skye's eyes met hers.

"No clue, but it was designed and built by Cybertech, Inc., a small firm that deals in advanced technology and research," She exclaimed in reply, hitting the screen and activating it to show the company's logo.

"Which is where this gets interesting," Coulson said, leaning forward to make everything sound more dramatic than it probably was. "They've hired a private-security outfit to transport the purchase… former military, ex-mercs."

"Lot of muscle to move one package," Ward commented. They did seem to be going over the top for this package- it must be important.

"And they know S.H.I.E.L.D's got eyes on Quinn," Coulson informed them.

"Which is why they're transporting it old-school," Skye added. May glanced between them; they must have just been discussing this before bringing it to the team, since Skye seemed to know everything without even needing to look at the screen.

"On a train, through the Italian countryside, from Verona to Zagreb...very rural, very isolated." He continued.

"And you think Quinn's on that train?" May asked, knowing it sounded more like a statement; she wasn't one who asked questions.

"No, but I believe they're delivering the item to Quinn himself," Coulson theorized, looking directly at her. He continued, "We got our intel from Italian authorities who have been monitoring the situation."

May resisted the small temptation to tilt her head to the side as she asked, "And they didn't mind us taking over?"

"I asked very nicely," Coulson replied with a small smile, nearly a smirk. He obviously _didn't_ ask politely. "If everything goes as planned, Cybertech's security team won't even know we were on the train."

"So, we're going in undercover," Ward commented, understanding exactly what Coulson was getting at.

May sighed, a hint of irritation on her face, "I hate undercover." She announced.

Coulson ignored her comment and explained everybody's rolls in as much detail as they needed. Once he was finished, May returned to the cockpit to edit the direction of the plane so they could get onto the train. She knew she would have to change before they got there, but that would only take her a minute. She heard somebody walk into the cockpit after her once she was seated-usually the only person who ever dared to disturb her was Coulson, although since Skye had found out she was her mother, she had been more confident in approaching May at random times-during her meditation, in the cockpit, and whilst she was eating.

May had to admit, Skye had taken the news better than she could have imagined, and she had become a lot more disciplined and controlled. "Can I join you?" Skye asked her.

May gave a simple nod, "You may." Skye sat down and looked out at the view. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Skye replied shortly. "You?"

"I'm fine," May replied. There had been many occasions when Skye would approach her, sit down and just stay there for a random period of time before leaving. She knew that Skye would have loads of questions and was honestly expecting to be bombarded with them, but she wasn't. Skye had been rather quiet, a bit unlike herself; she supposed she didn't want to overstep the boundaries. "Ask." She half-ordered.

"What was my dad like?" Skye asked instantly, the question flowing from her lips.

May quirked an eyebrow; this was the first mention of Skye's father, as she seemed to forget about that part of the equation. May wasn't sure why that hadn't been one of her first questions, but regardless, she flipped a switch and answered truthfully, "He was a hunter, mainly of animals, but did not rule out taking out a human or organisation for one reason or another. He was mostly a survivalist, so if anybody attacked or threatened him, he'd take action. He liked being known as the 'Best Hunter Ever'"

"So… he was a bad man…" Skye commented, a hint of sadness touching her voice, her head dropping slightly. Even though they had established that he wasn't a good guy in their first conversation before May revealed she was her mother, she supposed that it was still new information to her.

"He loved you very much. There were good parts of him, too," May informed her, glancing at her daughter to see Skye looking at her.

"What was his-" Skye stopped suddenly as the cockpit door opened.

"Skye?" Coulson asked, confused, obviously not expecting to find her in here-it was probably a bigger surprise that she was sitting down and having a casual conversation. Coulson had never managed to sit down in the cockpit.

"I was just… asking May about the mission," Skye lied. "I'll leave you two," she added as she stood up and walked straight out of the cockpit without any hesitation.

"What was that about?" Coulson asked as he went to sit down. May sent a glare at him and he stood back up.

"She had a question, and I answered it," May answered.

Coulson dropped the issue, knowing that he wouldn't get anything out of her unless she offered it or felt like she needed to tell him.

"I know you hate undercover work, but it _is_ the best option."

"Ward and I could do it- why are you insisting on taking the kids? Something could go wrong," May spoke.

Coulson looked at her. "Fitzsimmons and Skye have been on many missions before. They can handle it." He waited a few moments, but only received silence. "This is the best option, and if something _does_ go wrong, we'll all be there."

May hit a switch, but remained silent. She didn't have anything to say and she wasn't going to say something just for the sake of making conversation. She was already annoyed with Coulson for making her go undercover.

* * *

May walked through the train with her head held high, Ward trailing behind her with all of their pretend luggage.

"First class?" Ward asked one of the train officials in another language. They received directions and then refused to be shown to their booth- neither of them really cared for any kind of undercover work and the sooner they got there, the sooner they could stop pretending.

May walked straight past without saying a word and made her way to the booth.

Upon entering, she gave it a once over and looked out the window to efficiently judge how fast the train was going. After Ward had walked in, she removed her oversized fur coat to reveal the tight leather suit she was wearing underneath-she was ready for the mission.

"That looks cozy," Ward commented, giving her a quick look up and down as he unloaded the luggage.

A small smirk made its way to her lips as she slipped the hair band off her wrist and tied her hair back. She liked the thought of him being slightly distracted-it wasn't often she felt sexy nowadays. But, regardless of their relationship, she stuck to business. "Once I've located the package, I'll let you know where to place the tracker."

"Seem like things are getting personal?" Ward asked her and she instantly looked up with a small glare- where was he going with this? "I'm talking about our operations," he clarified with a smirk playing on his lips.

"Ah," May verbalised her understanding.

"Look, I know that Coulson was put through hell, but…" he started as he pulled off his tie, taking longer than her to change. "He hasn't been the same since."

May opened the cupboard, looking away from him with a hint of a frown gracing her lips-any difference in Coulson is not good, she knew that, and she knew she would probably have to contact Fury about Ward's observations.

"And I don't know what he said to Skye, but she's different, too," Ward continued to May's back. Her eyes shot up at the mention of Skye, but otherwise she didn't react.

"How so?" She questioned.

"Driven, focused… she was held up for _days_ trying to track Quinn; seems like Coulson got her on a warpath… seems personal." Ward said, completing his observation.

May was not amused with what he was saying; if Skye had been acting more driven and focused, it was because of May, because she told her who she really was. It had nothing to do with Coulson. "It _is_ personal." She replied, noting that he had now removed his shirt, too. "The clairvoyant had him tortured." She reminded him, a little bit harsher than her usual bored tone of voice. She cleared up her voice, so there was less emotion. "Quinn's the only person we know who's connected to all of this."

"We both know that personal urges can adversely affect tactical decisions," Ward told her with an implication in his tone.

"Hmm," May acknowledged as she looked directly at him, not even bothering to pay any attention to his bare torso. "That's why I don't have any- you should do the same." She advised. However, she knew that was a lie-because now she had a personal connection to Skye and she knew that she would change her tactics if she were in any danger. She put on her goggles, getting ready to head out and complete the mission.

"Really?" Ward asked with a very amused expression. "Do you think Coulson would take that excuse if he found out about us?" he questioned.

"Took it okay when I told him," May commented before turning around and opening the blinds. As she opened the window she heard his confused voice.

"Wait, you told him?"

She continued her movements, turning around and placing her hands on the top of the window.

"Yep," she answered shortly before pulling herself up and climbing out of the window to get on top of the train.

May hadn't been there for long when Coulson gave her the signal. "Copy that." She replied before turning on her goggles so she could efficiently follow the target. She stood up slowly to ensure she was able to keep her balance on the rapidly moving train. "Following the target to the package." She began walking at the same speed as the target.

"Great, we see what you see," Skye spoke in her ear.

"Alright, May, Cybertech cases are usually light with a tungsten polymer to prevent scanning, so it should appear black on your infrared," Fitz added, using scientist words, but still getting his point across.

May didn't respond verbally, but lifted one hand to her goggles as she looked around, searching for the package.

"Bingo!" Fitz exclaimed a second after she spotted the object. "Eyes on the package, fourth seat from the back."

She kept an eye on the package for a moment as it was lifted up. "Ward, you're up." She informed him through the comms and waited a second for a reply, but none came. "Ward?" She repeated. "Something's wrong-Cybertech's leaving the dining cart-Ward! Coulson!" She said, trying to get somebody's attention, but was suddenly distracted when a shot was fired right past her. She looked up to see a male in a suit half on the top of the train pointing a gun at her.

He fired again as she crouched down. As he fired a third time, she ejected her parachute; it was the only way she could think of to avoid getting shot. She flew up for a moment before landing on her feet, one hand touching the ground to keep her balance before she looked up at the train with anger and pulled off her 'chute. As she stood up fully, she tried her comms once more. "Fitz, Skye-can anybody read me?"

When no response came, May sighed deeply and looked around at her surroundings, taking a few steps towards the tracks. There, she noticed a figure lying on the ground. It only took one additional step towards it for her to realize it was Coulson; she instantly ran towards him, crouching down when she was close enough to him. Her eyes scanned over his body; there were no obvious injuries- however, he seemed frozen. Her left hand moved to his as she checked his pulse, a relieved breath leaving her as she closed her eyes for a split second, glad that he was still alive-she didn't want to even _think_ about losing him. A smile graced her lips for a split second before she looked down and tried to shake him awake- to no avail. He was out cold.

She then ran over to Ward, checking his eyes to realize that he was also frozen, "I've got to get you guys to safety." She spoke aloud; she had been talking more since telling Skye who she was- nobody had seemed to notice yet. She took off running, her aim to find a vehicle that she could use to transport Coulson and Ward. After a few minutes she located a dirty, washed out old truck and ran towards it. She searched for a key for a few moments before hot-wiring it-she had the intention of returning it. Eventually.

A smile tugged her lips as she successfully got it working; however, as she went to stand up, she felt the presence of another person and the smile disappeared.

"We've been looking for you, Agent May," the voice came.

With a quick glance, she noted that she was surrounded. With the amount of guns pointed at her-both short and long distance-she knew that she couldn't fight her way out right now. She would have to wait for the right time; also, she wanted to know who was behind all of this so she could kick their arses later. Right now, she had to do what they said. She turned around slowly, a frown on her face as her eyes analysed the agents. She saw a plausible way to get out of this situation right then. However, her contemplation took too long and she was hit over the head.

Blackness overcame her.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading :)**


	3. Where are Fitz and Skye?

**Author's Note:**

 **Don't expect a chapter everyday, it just so happens that this is the third day in the row I am posting, lol.**

 **I would like to thank everybody who has faved and followed this story so far, you are all amazing and I can't thank you enough.**

 **I am going to give a shout out to everybody who has reviewed the first or second chapter already: Subject 666; Nan119; grossly-sweet; rebeccaskyeward12; Guest; BeifongSisters; Tamara; Guest; icecold5.**

* * *

May inhaled a large amount of oxygen as she gasped; the shock of the cold water over her face and body had surprised her. She noted instantly that her wrists were tied up above her and she was hanging; she also noted that her feet were not tied. Her body swung back and forth slightly as she continued to catch her breath, looking around to get her bearings and work out where she was.

"Get your bearings, Sweetheart, get your bearings, there you go, there you go," Russo said in a patronisingly sweet tone. Her breathing turned angrier as she looked at him. "I realise you're confused, but I'm here to help." He assured her.

She narrowed her eyes slightly before glancing up at her bound wrists. "You see, I make sure Cybertech products move across Italy without incident and they make sure I'm well taken care of." He paused, "And they'll take care of you, too; all you have to do is tell me where Agents Coulson and Ward are," he informed her simply, almost hopeful that she was going to answer him. "That's it," he added after a few moments of silence.

May's glare was deep, but she lightened it and offered a subtle laugh of amusement.

"Why're you smiling?" he asked.

"You called me 'Sweetheart'," May replied, the smile still on her face- she momentarily ignored everything else he had said.

"Fine, have it your way," Russo said as he removed his glasses, all hope on his face replaced with boredom and annoyance. "Just remember: _your boss_ asked to be part of this op, and I warned him against it. So if you're looking for somebody to blame, look towards him." He told her before stabbing her just below the left shoulder.

May grunted in pain as the knife when in; it wasn't a deadly wound- they were obviously planning on torturing her for information. They wouldn't kill her- not yet. She looked up at him and smiled.

"That's just what I needed." She informed him. _How could he be so stupid?_

Russo turned away and started addressing the other individuals in the room and May used that small distraction to pull herself up, pull the knife out and cut the restraints in one swift movement. She landed on her feet, ready to fight. Her hand swung up as she cut him before turning and attacking the closest other individual in the room. She grabbed his arm and stabbed him in the chest, killing him instantly. Without any rest, she turned to face off with the other man; she grabbed his arm, using his own gun to shoot a third man before also killing him.

May turned quickly as she heard the engine of a car starting up, and she instantly stood up to go after the only one that got away. "Russo." She tracked him back as fast as she could go, and it wasn't long before she realised exactly where he was going.

As she watched him walk onto the BUS, she ran to stop him before he attacked anybody, throwing the knife he had stabbed her with, she killed him instantly. She looked at Coulson and Ward.

"Wheels up in five." She told them both with a glare on her face-she hated combat.

"You okay? You weren't on the train when it disappeared?" Ward asked as he bent down to check on Russo; he was still focused on the mission.

"May, Russo was… explain yourself, please," Coulson half demanded as May attempted to walk past.

She spun around and glared at him. "The train didn't disappear- Russo sold us out." She informed them both, although focusing her attention on Coulson. "Get the plane ready, I need a shower," she ordered before walking off. Not only did she need a shower, but she needed to patch herself up, too.

"You're hurt, let me stitch you up." Ward said as he followed her.

"I _said_ to get the plane ready," May replied in a strained voice as she walked away from him. There was no time to waste; they had three untrained agents on the train and they needed to get to them, _fast_ , before anything bad happened.

* * *

After her quick shower, she got the BUS in the air, en route before deciding to tend to her wounds. She removed the bandage she had set on it and pulled out the stitches- it was still bleeding.

"Let me help," Coulson offered as he walked in, and she knew he wouldn't accept 'no' for an answer. He opened a cupboard and pulled two things out. "You know, we have this stuff for a reason." He reminded her as he waved the vial.

May allowed him to guide her away from the stitches and hoisted herself up onto the side so he could have easier access to her wound. She moved her hair out of the way.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. found the train- turns out it switched tracks shortly after we got off," he informed her before pausing while he applied the cream to her wound carefully. "The grenade must have released some kind of toxin, made us believe no time had passed."

"Yeah, I saw you guys frozen on the field," May said as she looked up. She offered a small breath, which could have been translated as a small laugh. "You looked ridiculous."

"It wasn't supposed to be a combat op," Coulson told her.

She didn't react instantly; he wasn't apologising for pulling her into another combat op, but the kids, even after she warned him against it

"They'll be fine," she assured him. "They can handle themselves."

"I got it, gently." Coulson said as he placed a clean bandage on her wound and moved her t-shirt back to the right place.

"Thank you."

"Did he get you anywhere else?" Coulson inquired.

May scoffed. He only got her in the first place because she let him; she wasn't going to be stabbed twice.

"We need to reroute the BUS; we just got word from S.H.I.E.L.D that the train stopped suddenly in the Italian countryside." Ward informed them both as he walked in from behind them.

"What? Why?" Coulson asked.

"We'll find out soon- I'll put in the coordinates. Touchdown in ten," Ward informed them before starting to walk off.

May started to get up, wanting to get there faster than ten minutes; if they stopped, there was more danger for Skye and Fitzsimmons.

"I'll come help." But she stopped when Ward dismissed her.

"I've got it."

* * *

They got to the train in eight minutes.

It had only been stationary for fifteen minutes, but there hadn't been any sign of Skye and Fitzsimmons. Upon seeing a window, Coulson, Ward and May all ran into the train in search for their missing agents. They walked cautiously, noticing that the computers had been shot up. Within seconds of entering the room, Jemma jumped up.

"Everybody down!" she exclaimed as she began shooting randomly around the room.

"Jemma, stop!" Coulson exclaimed.

Jemma stopped immediately, looking at them, confused. She looked around and seemed completely lost and unsure about what was happening, "Where are Fitz and Skye?" she asked them, her face laced with worry.

May kept her face blank, but couldn't help but be worried. Why had Fitz and Skye left the train? And when?

* * *

Coulson, Ward and May were able to trace the tracker to a location, hoping that it led to Fitz and Skye. They found Fitz first, who had informed them that Skye had gone into the building without backup because she didn't want to let Quinn get away.

May circled the building before meeting back up with Coulson, who had Quinn. "Where's Skye?" Coulson demanded as Ward joined them, obviously having taken care of any other men.

"You know, Agent Coulson, it's dangerous to keep sending her in like that, all alone… when she means so much to you," Quinn taunted. May felt her blood boil and Coulson punching Quinn didn't help-he deserved so much more than a punch.

"Search the house! Find her! _Now_!" Coulson ordered.

May was the only one not to run off to search; instead, she happily pulled Quinn's arms behind his back and roughly handcuffed him- she was not letting him get away, and hopefully he would be injured further in her custody. She pushed him down and made sure he was secure when she heard Coulson shouting for Simmons.

May followed them into the basement, her blood running cold when she realised Skye was injured. Everybody's voices were muffled as she froze; Skye had been shot. May's mind wasn't working fast enough to process what was going on, she wasn't even able to hide the fear on her face. As people began to lift the girl, May made herself move, helping them. "Gentle." She murmured, not wanting her to hurt any more as she helped place her in the chamber. She used all of her force to close it, not caring that it hurt her shoulder where she had been stabbed. Skye was more important.

May listened intently to what was going on, waiting to find out what was happening. "Is it working?" she asked, losing patience quickly. She needed to know if Skye-if her daughter-was going to be okay.

* * *

May remained with Skye the entire journey, just like everybody else; she remained on the outskirts for the entire time. She didn't want to leave her side at all, but also didn't want to draw too much attention to how much she cared. As far as anybody was aware, she was the least close member of the team to Skye; they didn't know that she was technically one of the closest.

The other agents started to fizzle out, Fitzsimmons leaving first, followed by Ward. May was tempted to stay, but saw Coulson leaning in closer to Skye- she was safe right now and if she stayed, she would only draw attention to herself. Therefore, she followed Ward out of the room in time she see him punch the car-that didn't deter her from walking over to him. She wanted to punch something, too.

"It's not your fault." She informed him slowly, placing a hand on his gently, half-checking to see if he had injured it when punching the car bonnet, but eventually they ended up half-lacing their fingers.

"She never should have gone in there alone," Ward replied, not resisting her touch.

"Blaming yourself won't help her," May whispered, although she wasn't sure if she was trying to comfort Ward or herself. Ward's previous words about Skye being more determined lately were ringing in her ears.

"I'm not blaming myself," Ward mostly whispered, a strong expression on his face; he blamed Coulson. He thought that Skye was more determined because of Coulson, but in reality it was because of May-it was her fault that Skye had become more eager to prove herself. Coulson may have been giving Skye the option to go out in the field, and technically _was_ in charge of her safety, but May was her _mother_ , and she should have been protecting Skye. She had failed her again; it was her fault that Skye was in this situation.

May didn't trust herself to go off alone, because she couldn't predict what she would do. It appeared that Ward had no intention of moving further away from Skye, and they were both able to see her through the glass. However, she had to leave after an hour, as they were getting closer to the S.H.I.E.L.D. trauma zentrum zurich, in Switzerland and she wanted to make sure they landed as close as possible-she would do anything to keep Skye alive right now.

She was not losing her again.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! Reviews are welcomed and valued :)**


	4. Saving Skye

**Author's note: Hello my lovelies, here is the next chapter! It's taken me a little longer, but it is also longer!**

 **Thank you so much to the amazing response I have received for this story!**

* * *

May landed the BUS and barely rushed through her checks before darting out of the cockpit so she could exit with Skye. She followed them all out, making sure to keep a good eye on where her daughter was, but unfortunately didn't need to help with anything-Coulson and Jemma had everything covered.

"She was shot twice in the abdomen at close range almost two hours ago," Coulson informed the nurses and doctors as they all entered the hospital, pushing Skye quickly and safely down the halls.

"She's tachycardic, hypotensive, and lost a significant amount of blood. We had to lower her core body temperature in order to transport her here." Jemma added, telling the doctors exactly what they needed to know.

"It's probably what kept her alive this long," One of them replied. "We'll do everything we can."

They had gotten too far away for May to hear, so she entered the waiting room, where Fitz and Ward had already been seated.

* * *

May stood with her back to everybody as she looked out the window, a stoic expression on her face.

"I'm here; that's unacceptable. I need to speak to Director Fury immediately, please," Coulson continued with his attempts at getting in touch with Fury. May wasn't entirely sure why, though.

"Why didn't I stop her? I _could_ have," Fitz murmured solemnly. It hadn't even occurred to May that anybody could have stopped Skye from going into that place, but she knew that Fitz wasn't to blame at all- oh, no. She knew only too well who _exactly_ was to blame.

"As if you could stop Skye doing anything she's set her mind to," Simmons reminded him, level-headed for the moment.

"I shouldn't have let her go after Quinn by herself," Fitz continued with a small shake of his head. "What was I thinking?"

"It's not your fault," Ward started, half-glancing, half-glaring at Coulson's back. "She shouldn't have been there." He paused for a moment, "I'm her S.O. It's on me."

May almost rolled her eyes at how everybody was so easily taking the blame upon themselves. Some had small truth to it, but none of them were actually the cause of this whole situation. She stepped forward, turning to face them fully so she could get their attention. "The one to blame is the man who shot her, Ian Quinn; _he's_ responsible." She informed them firmly, no chance of negotiation in her voice.

"Yes; the message is that I have an agent dying, and there are questions only Fury can answer," Coulson muttered in the background. He hung up and caught May's attention when he nearly slammed his phone down- he couldn't get Fury on the phone, but now she had a slight idea as to _why_ he wanted him.

She knew she _could_ go back to the BUS and call Fury on her secure line, but that meant leaving Skye- something she _couldn't_ do, even for only a few minutes. Instead, she just watched him walk off.

* * *

May finally sat down on one of the unoccupied couches, thinking over everything she knew about Skye. She knew she liked computers and was well trained in hacking. She was named Mary-Sue Poots at the orphanage and changed her name when she was old enough- for which May didn't blame her. She loved superheroes, even though she wouldn't directly admit it, because at least once a week she'd make a reference. She had learnt to carry only the essentials and over the years had accumulated a small supply of personal objects. She had treated her baby belongings with such care when she received them, and they were currently the only things in her bunk that was always neat and secure.

As soon as the doctor walked into the room, May was standing up, fully focused and ready for the news.

"How is she?" Coulson asked after a new moments; his voice was soft and hadn't been used in a while.

"Not good," The doctor informed him shortly before expanding. "The shots perforated her stomach and penetrated the large and small intestines. We resected what we could, but… there's just been too much damage."

"So what's next?" Coulson asked without hesitation.

"We can keep her comfortable, but you'll need to make a decision whether or not you want to keep her on life support."

May fought to control her breathing. However, she forgot to keep her expression clear and could feel the tears threatening to come.

"You're saying there's nothing to be done?" Coulson asked, confirming all of their suspicions about what the doctor was telling them.

"I'm saying that you need to call her family; get them here as soon as possible."

" _We're_ her family," Coulson said, his voice at the breaking point.

"In that case, I'm very sorry."

May listened to the words, but the sadness and despair momentarily disappeared as she was filled with pure hatred and anger. She barely glanced at the lost and hopeless faces of her team as she marched out of the medical facility; she was going to fix this, one way or another.

* * *

"Finally," Quinn said with a cocky tone as May barged into the room. "I was beginning to think you'd forgotten…" His words were cut short as May swung one arm around and smashed his face into the metal table he was currently handcuffed to. She did not hesitate to pull the chair from him and throw it across the room.

"Wait, you can't!" Quinn shouted in sheer fear as he attempted to cower away from her, his nose already bleeding.

May knelt down, one hand gasping his shirt tightly so she could hold him still. "Why? 'Cause you're defenseless, like she was?" she asked rhetorically, leaving no chance for a reply as her fist came down and connected, _hard,_ with his face. Again, and again, and again, and again. She could easily continue this all night long.

"May! _May_!" Coulson shouted, his voice stopping her mid-swing as she turned and glared at him; why would he stop her? She saw Ward hovering behind him. "Outside, _now_ ," he requested, although she knew it wasn't truly a request-he had to stop her.

May threw Quinn down to the ground as hard as she possibly could at that angle before standing up and storming past Coulson and Ward to Coulson's office. She knew that he was following her and instantly spoke, her voice hard, rough, and void of any other emotion apart from pure anger and hate.

" _He_ deserves to die, not her!" She tried to once again control her breathing, but was failing; she was too riled up right now. She knew that if she let the anger go, she might actually break down.

"Agreed," Coulson said, but she knew he wouldn't stop there. "But right now, Quinn doesn't matter; only Skye does, and I need you to pilot the plane."

"You heard what the doctor said," May replied forcefully. What was he playing at?

"She said there was nothing more they could do for her, but there are doctors who brought me back from the dead," He reminded her. "If they can do that, I'm betting they can save Skye."

May looked over his shoulder, at Ward, before looking back at Coulson; she knew what he was implying and knew the consequences of what he wanted to do. But she didn't care. She would do anything right now to save Skye.

* * *

May was doing as she was asked- she was piloting the plane. She knew it was a long-shot that they would actually be able to save Skye, and that, in attempting, they would be breaking a lot of S.H.I.E.L.D. rules, but she couldn't find it in her to care. If there was even a _chance_ that they could save Skye, then she would break every rule in the book. She heard the cockpit door open and for a split second presumed it was Coulson, but his footsteps didn't match; it was Ward. She felt a wave of sadness hit her; it used to only be Coulson who entered this place, and even then, it wasn't for very long. Nobody else even dared. After telling Skye, though, she had gotten used to not knowing exactly who was entering when the door opened until they spoke or Skye sat down- but now Ward decided he could come in? She may have to put a stop to it. Especially after he sat down- then again, she couldn't blame him for entering; he _did_ occasionally pilot the plane.

"Hurt much?" he asked, indicating her hand.

"I'm fine," May replied shortly, not wanting to converse with anybody.

"Coulson told me how long he was dead," Ward commented; she didn't react, and he looked over at her. "But you already knew that, didn't you?" He asked rhetorically, because they both knew the answer. "I saw Skye in the pod, machines filtering her blood and breathing for her," he spoke softly, slowly, and almost distantly. "I'm not sure I'd make this play-" he continued, and May finally turned to face him, shock on her features. She was already hating where this conversation was going, almost hating him for saying the words. "-fly halfway around the word hoping for a second miracle." He shook his head.

"If Coulson thinks there's a one-in-a-million chance to save Skye, to save any of us, he'd take it," May commented calmly as she turned back to looking at the view. "People like us, we need people like him." She paused for a split second, barely enough to get a breath before counteracting his opinion. "So, yeah, it makes sense. A lot more sense than the alternative."

"You mean giving up," Ward stated, though it was almost phrased like a question.

"Or killing the man responsible," she added.

"I _did_ like seeing you go after Quinn," Ward admitted before adding, "You don't open the blinds like that very often."

May didn't have chance to respond, as their radio went off and interrupted their conversation, "S.H.I.E.L.D. 616, this is tower Michael Tango. You are in violation of S.H.I.E.L.D. directive 1297. Respond immediately."

May looked at Ward questioningly, wondering exactly _what_ they were in trouble for. "Disobeying a direct order," he answered her silent question and she rolled her eyes in annoyance. "We didn't hand Quinn over for interrogation," he added.

"Great," May muttered, not amused. They did _not_ have time to deal with all of this crap! If she could, she would continue flying and ignore them- but that wouldn't stop them.

"This is S.H.I.E.L.D. 616, how do we proceed?" May asked into the radio, her tone more bored than anything.

"Prepare to be boarded and relinquish command."

May and Ward shared a worried, shocked look.

 _That_ seemed a tad overboard.

* * *

"You wanted to see me?" May stated as she tried not to rush into Fitzsimmons' lab. They had called her and she had all but run there. If they called her, then they probably needed something to do with Skye.

"I just got off the phone with the trauma centre in Bethesda," Jemma started instantly, not wasting any time, just like May. "Dr. Steriten's gone off the grid."

"So we'll find a different doctor there who operated on Coulson," May replied; this didn't seem as urgent as she had predicted.

"That's the thing, actually," Fitz started.

"Coulson was never treated there," Jemma continued, looking from Fitz to May.

"You're not making sense," May admitted, looking at her.

"None of this makes sense- listen: the doctors, the operating room number, _none of them exist._ None of them are part of S.H.I.E.L.D." Jemma informed her.

May stared at her for a moment, the words sinking in; the document must have been faked- a fake location, fake doctors. They were on a wild goose chase to find something that did not exist. But Coulson was alive, so there _must_ be a way.

But how- and where- would they find it?

* * *

"Quinn shot Skye for nothing," May said with utter disgust in her voice. "The place we were going, the doctors who treated you- they don't exist."

"Or maybe they exist somewhere else," Coulson suggested, hopefully. "This is S.H.I.E.L.D.; there are always secrets."

"That's my fear, Sir," Jemma admitted, speaking up. "You file is filled with secret experimental drugs, unknown surgical procedures we've never even heard of." The young scientist let out a small sigh, "Frankly, Fitz and I only understand about 70% of what's in here."

"Even if we _do_ find where they treated you and we were able to replicate the procedure, there's the other obvious question," May spoke, not wanting to finish the question.

"Which is?"

"Whether we should." Jemma said quickly, throwing the words out. "What you experienced, Sir, if this file is even partially accurate."

"No one's suggesting that we subject Skye to everything I went though, but if there's something in here- a drug, a treatment that can save her- we need to find it." Coulson informed her before ordering, "Figure it out."

"Yes, Sir," Jemma submitted before quickly retreating back to her lab.

"You disagree?" Coulson asked as he turned to face May.

"No," she said honestly. "I think we need to do everything humanly possible to save Skye." She wanted to stop there, but needed to make sure her judgement wasn't completely compromised. She needed to speak her concerns. "But we need to acknowledge that doing so might give the Clairvoyant exactly what he wants."

"It's a risk we have to take," he replied. May was worried about all of the repercussions, but didn't speak them-she wanted to do this and help Skye more than anything. She made her way to Skye and waited for Fitzsimmons to finish their conversation about a drug before approaching the glass and watching her daughter for a while; she made sure she wasn't in the camera.

* * *

"The Guest House is not a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility," Coulson briefed quickly as everybody was strapping out. "We don't know who or what's in there. "Be prepared for potential resistance."

"No contact from inside?" Garrett asked.

"I've tried every known channel, no response," May replied.

"Place could be abandoned," Ward suggested.

"Let's hope not," Coulson responded. "We need the people inside to work on Skye."

"Simmons is prepping Skye to move at a moment's notice, Sir," Fitz informed them as he entered with a backpack on his back.

"Trip can help; he's had med-tech training."

"Good," Coulson nodded. "We do our jobs right and this will all go peacefully."

"What if they don't want to help us?" Ward asked.

"I'll say 'pretty please'," Garrett said as he loaded and held up his gun.

"We need the doctors alive and the place intact," Coulson reminded them, but it was obviously directed at Garrett. "If it _does_ go sideways, Fitz, I need you down there to determine what Simmons can use to help Skye; and then we take it." He paused. "Let's move."

May watched as they walked out; any other time she would have stopped this whole operation or would have gone with them. But she wanted them to succeed, and she wasn't prepared to leave the BUS-she wanted to be close enough to Skye to protect her. Although it was very hard to protect her when she was dying. But she knew that if she went down into the facility, she may change her mind; she knew about the drug and knew of its side effects. She was still debating if it was the right thing to do: to save Skye but potentially make her crazy- would that be living?

May paced around, keeping an eye on the comms and progress- she wanted to know what was happening and when. She also had Skye on the screen so she could keep an eye on her. She wanted to make sure everything ran smoothly and there were no hiccups. There was an unusual amount of silence over the comms, and it couldn't have taken them that long. "Coulson, do you read me?" she asked simply. After a few minutes of no reply, she tried again- her patience was wearing thin, but she tried a third time; nothing.

May turned the screen off and strode to Simmons and Trip to keep them in the loop; she wanted them to know what was going on so that they could truly prepare Skye.

She saw them talking, and didn't care that she may have been interrupting something. "Comms are down; if I don't hear anything within the hour, I'm going after them."

A gargling noise combined with the beeping of the machine made May turn suddenly to Skye. Something was wrong. Simmons sprung into action immediately. "Skye's coding; both of you, now." She ordered as she ran into the room.

May was in there straight after her, not even putting any effort to hide her fear. "How can we help?" she asked, rushing over to Skye's side.

"I need a unit of epi."

"Got it," Trip said, injecting a syringe into Skye's thigh while Simmons started chest compressions.

May felt useless, as she stood there, unable to physically help her daughter. Thankfully, Simmons was able to stabilise her, keeping her alive- May knew that if they weren't able to find what they were looking for, she wouldn't make it.

"Weak, erratic heart rate- each time we save her, I ask myself, 'is this what Skye would want?'" Simmons spoke aloud.

May looked at her. "We didn't come this far to quit." She informed her firmly.

They were not giving up.

Suddenly the room was filled with Fitz's voice, breaking in and out, the comms slowly coming into focus. Simmons started to talk, but was distracted when Skye began coding again.

May's face filled with fear; she had to do something. "Fitz, come in, what's your status?" she asked as she ran from the room. She was faster than him; if she could get to him, maybe he had something that could help Skye. A few extra seconds could save her life.

As she passed Fitz, he informed her about the mountain about to explode, and that he had the drug. They parted ways. There was no use for them all dying here, so she had to get the BUS into the air. As soon as they were at a safe distance, she put the BUS into autopilot and ran straight back to Skye- she didn't know if she would be greeted with good or bad news.

As she stared at Skye, the drug appeared to be having a negative effect on her; everybody was talking at once, trying to be heard, trying to offer input. But all she heard was Simmons.

"Her heart beat- she's stabilising!" Relief filled her as she turned her attention to Skye, ignoring everybody else. She saw Simmons rest a hand on Skye's head, stroking her hair back.

Eventually, May turned to Coulson, relief in her face and voice. "You did it." Her expression changed to one of confusion when he looked at her, dread in his face, and she moved out of the way so he could pass. She slid closer to Garrett. "Something happen down there?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "One minute he was fine, next it was like he had seen a ghost."

May looked around, slightly confused as she tried to work out what he could have seen.

* * *

May made her way to Coulson's office after a short time, everything having calmed down. She stepped into the doorway.

"D'you mind?" she asked, seeking permission. He half nodded before shaking his head in amusement at her actually asking permission-she didn't do that often, but it was enough for her to walk in fully. "You did the impossible today; you saved Skye's life," she commented, a hint of awe in her voice. That changed when she sighed. "Why aren't you happy about it?" When no reply came, she continued, "They told me you were yelling to not use the drug, to not use it on Skye. Why?" she asked, needing to know the answer. Did he find something out that made him decide that the drug was too dangerous? Was there something she didn't know that would change her opinion on saving her daughter this way, too? "What made you change your mind?"

May watched as he went into a daze, looking off to the side and not actually responding to her, "Phil? Phil! ... you alright?"

He finally looked at her, "Being down there, seeing where I came from... I just got really scared that she would suffer the way that I did. But she didn't, for whatever reason; she didn't." He answered; she knew there was truth to what he said, but he was still holding something back.

May decided that it was time she was a little more truthful with him; she wanted him to know how truly grateful she was that he had contributed in saving Skye.

"There's something I should tell you."

Coulson nodded, his eyes boring into hers.

"Skye… I know who her parents are," she told him.

He nodded- she had said something similar before, "Who are they? Have you told Skye?"

"I… Skye knows, I informed her a while back... I am her mother," May informed him simply. His eyes widened and he leant forward.

" _You're_ Skye's mother? How is that possible?" Coulson asked her.

May took a breath and decided to give him an overview of what had happened over two decades ago. But it wasn't nearly in as much detail as when she told Skye-he only needed to know the basics.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading, the next chapter(s) are going to be less based on the episodes.**


	5. She's my daughter

**Author's Note:**

 **Thank you to everybody for reading, favs, following and reviewing! Means so much to me!**

 **Set during, Season 1, episode 15.**

* * *

May made sure there was nobody around when she slipped into Skye's room. She looked around- it was a mess. She guessed that Skye didn't care about 'losing it' when the engines started. It only took a few seconds to locate the box; firstly, the room was small. Secondly, she was trained to locate things. And thirdly, it was under the bed- one of the most typical hiding places in the history of object concealment.

May only spent a few seconds rummaging through it before pulling out a small teddy bear. She tucked it into her jacket and slid the box back under Skye's bed.

With a careful glance she made her way to where Skye was- still in the hospital bed, under observation- and walked in. "How are you feeling?"

"Good," Skye replied and pushed herself into a seated position, a pained expression on her face.

May stepped closer and gently pushed her back down. "You should lie back and rest."

"So you're not here to bust me out?" Skye joked as she leant against the pillows.

May shook her head. "Not today." Her phone beeped as she glanced at her. "I'll come and check on you later." She walked off, placing the teddy bear back into the box on her way to the mission room.

After a few minutes, she contacted the team. They turned up and she began to talk. "New orders." She announced before elaborating, "S.H.I.E.L.D. is detecting massive energy readings in the skies above the California-Nevada border."

"Where's Agent Coulson?" Ward asked after a second of silence.

"Taking personal time," May answered shortly. His reaction to what he saw down in the bunker and then the news about Skye being her daughter had only made him ask questions, and a _lot_ of them. It was mostly about the drug that saved him and Skye, but he was being very suspicious. They have barely spoken about her relation to Skye- mainly because she had ceased to answer his questions.

"It's been a couple days," Ward pointed out and May couldn't help but give him a bored glare. Thankfully, Simmons stayed on track and began talking about the new orders.

"These are the same readings Dr. Savok and Dr. Foster picked up in New Mexico and in London," she informed them. May nodded in understanding of what she meant, but she told them all anyway. "They mark the arrival of an Asgardian."

Fitz' mouth opened in surprise and wonder before looking at Simmons. "Thor," He guessed.

"Not sure," May spoke, gaining their attention. "Either way, S.H.I.E.L.D wants us to be the welcome wagon."

"Oh, okay, fine, no cause for concern. Right?" Fitz muttered. "Asgardians are allies." He continued. May almost rolled her eyes at his jittering.

"Loki wasn't," Ward helpfully pointed out before walking off- if his intention was to ease Fitz' worrying, he needed a new tactic.

May walked off in a different direction, dropping in on Skye again and checking on her, but only stayed a minute before going to the cockpit. What did you say to your 26-year-old daughter who had nearly died, when you don't even know if she had ever been in hospital before?

* * *

May drove the car with Fitz and Ward to the location of the energy surges. She was getting more and more annoyed with Ward's constant questions about Coulson- he was supposed to be a specialist. She presumed that he would know to not ask a thousand questions. Thankfully, she didn't have to just ignore him as Lady Sif appeared and warned them that their world was in danger.

She drove them back to the BUS.

* * *

"She's a warrior," Coulson told her when they got back. "I saw her fight in New Mexico with Thor- climbed a giant metal killing machine, speared it with her double edged sword. It was pretty badass." He concluded.

"She said she needs S.H.I.E.L.D to help her find someone," May informed him. "You up for this?" She questioned.

"I'm fine," Coulson answered shortly before making his way down the steps, but she spoke anyway.

"'Fine' doesn't look like _this_ ," She told him firmly. He halted instantly and she continued, "not on you. You've been gone more often than not." She sighed and moved closer, "Whatever is bothering you… I'm here."

He offered her a small smile.

"I know." He said before turning away and walking down the steps. She followed him, knowing they had to get down to business and work out how to help Sif.

"It only took a few minutes of conversation with Sif to work out her intention and a rough game plan. It took another hour or so to plan everything, fly to the location and collect ICER guns from Fitz. She preferred the name ICERs to 'Night-Night guns'.

May opted to stay on the BUS whilst Coulson, Ward and Sif went to find Lorelei. She didn't want to leave Skye unattended right now; she decided to check on Skye once more and bumped into Simmons en route.

"Can I help you with something?" Simmons asked curiously.

"I was just checking on Skye… She mentioned you were taking a lot of her blood; what are you searching for?" May asked her.

Simmons sighed, "The GH325. I am seeing if I can isolate it or find its component; we don't know exactly what it's changed. But I have limited resources, here..."

"It healed her; she's fine," May spoke and before Simmons could go on a rant about science, she excused herself.

* * *

Staying on the BUS seemed like a good idea to begin with, but then Lorelei took Ward under her control. After a conversation with Sif, she knew she wouldn't be able to hold back anything if Ward came after her- he would try to kill her and she would have to try not to kill him.

To make up for the missing numbers, she left the BUS at the casino where Ward and Lorelei had been located. However, by the time they had got there, they were gone. Having no choice but to return back to the BUS, they knew it would be harder to catch them. Ward was a great S.H.I.E.L.D agent; he wouldn't let them get caught so quickly.

It didn't take long on the BUS before she realised something was wrong- the banging coming from their cage. Coulson and May split up, May headed straight for the cockpit; she hated somebody else flying her plane. Getting punched by Lorelei wasn't that bad, it was all the talking that got them nowhere and revealed a few disturbing things.

There was a long stalemate with Ward as he held a gun to her, but she waited patiently. Keeping him occupied kept him safe and Coulson had things under control. She was only going to give it a few more minutes when she heard Fitz shout for Ward, distracting him just enough for her to grab the gun from his hands and attack. Whatever Coulson's plan was, she hoped he acted fast.

The fight between her and Ward was heated, as both of them were pretty evenly matched; her disadvantage was that she didn't want to kill him. All the same, her advantage was that she had her own reason for winning, whereas he did not. Each of them aimed the gun at one another a couple of times.

May got pissed when he tried firing the gun at her; she had already taken the bullets out, but it still annoyed her. She was ready to literally rip his fingers off one at a time when the spell ended. But she was too annoyed to walk away and punched him across the face- it was for more than one reason.

* * *

May only half listened to the conversation Coulson and Sif were having, her mind elsewhere, but she retained everything that was said. When Sif left, she turned. "I'll run diagnostics, see how much damage we're dealing with."

"How much are _you_ dealing with?" Coulson asked, stopping her.

She turned around to face him after a second, a small smug smile on her lips, "He didn't break anything."

"Not what I meant; you should talk to him, hash it out," Coulson advised.

May didn't want to talk to him, because she knew roughly the direction the conversation would go, but she knew that they _would_ have to talk- unfortunately. She turned to him.

"You should take your own advice- you've been sitting on something since the guesthouse. If not with me, then with Skye; she deserves to know what went on down there." Her hands rubbed his outer arms for a moment before she redacted them and walked off.

She didn't particularly want Skye to know anything about GH325 or of the effects it could have. But at the same time, she deserved to know and it was also one of the only ways to complete her mission- she needed to know what Coulson knew.

May sighed as she continued to walk off and entered the cockpit, hoping for some alone time to reflect on everything that was happening. Another sigh left her when she saw Ward sitting there.

"I figure I'll let you punch me again," he started. "Repeatedly, just-"

"It's fine."

"It's not. I never intended…" Ward took a breath and rephrased, "I didn't want to hurt…"

"You didn't," May interrupted. "There was never a risk with me, I told you that."

"Y-you did," Ward commented.

"Seems like we're done here," May added after a few seconds of silence. This way of ending things was a lot quicker and easier than she had imagined it would be. It was mostly unanimous, but she knew there would be future consequences from their relationship. She gave him a stare when he didn't leave immediately.

He sighed and slowly stood up, "Okay."

"But if what Lorelei said was true," She started; she had to get this out, "then you are more honest with her than you are yourself." She heard him leave and looked down slightly, then let herself have a second of self-pity before starting the plane up.

* * *

May was watching Skye through the camera like she had been since she was shot. Listening to the interactions with other members… it was sweet. Keeping a distance like this made May feel nice, but also sad, as she didn't have that connection with her daughter. Her attention piqued when Coulson walked into the room, and she wanted to know if he was going to follow her advice.

She stood up after a while, her lips tightly held together as she picked up her direct line to Fury and spoke the two words she wish she didn't have to. "He knows. I repeat, Coulson knows." She didn't mention that Skye also knew- she needed to shelter her.

* * *

Three hours later found May back into Skye's hospital room. Skye was now allowed to sit up and stand, but was still not allowed to leave the room yet. May felt silly with the constant surveillance, but she wasn't completely sure how else to act; she felt like she was treating Skye more like a mark than a daughter.

"Hey," Skye said happily when she was in view. "Check out this cat and dog video."

May walked in fully and looked at the screen. Skye was on YouTube, and she stifled a laugh at the cat scaring a dog. "You seem happier."

"I'm still stuck in here, but it's not so bad. Also, I have my laptop," Skye answered.

May glanced at the laptop and then back to Skye. "And you are researching cat and dog videos?"

"It didn't start that way," Skye laughed. "I guess I got a bit side-tracked."

May thought for a moment. "There's actually a cat video I watched the other day- let's see if I can find it." Skye turned to laptop towards her and she began typing. "Here we go."

As soon as the video started, Skye began laughing. "Are they trying to give the cat a bath?"

May nodded, smiling softly. She couldn't help but laugh herself when the cat ran into the camera to get away. "I shouldn't laugh." She commented, but Skye's laughter ignited her again.

"Cat video compilation," Skye announced suddenly after a minute and clicked on the link.

May ended up sitting on the edge of the bed; she hadn't laughed this much since before Bahrain. When the videos shifted to little children falling over, it turned bittersweet. And with May fully on the bed with Skye.

"When I was that age, I wanted to be a gymnast because the neighbour. I was allowed to go over there, and they had a beam that was a few feet from the ground. I climbed on it and was determined that I could do a cartwheel." Skye laughed at the memory. "I obviously couldn't, 'cuz I was a clumsy child. I sorta flipped off and just laid there, really confused that it didn't work. The parents were so scared that I was hurt that they nearly took me to the hospital. But I just climbed back on it and tried again… That time I _did_ get hurt and they gave me ice cream."

"You were determined… Did you ever accomplish it?" May asked, a soft and slightly sad smile on her face.

"Nope," Skye laughed. "I stayed on the ground after that."

"I did gymnastics when I was a child," May informed her.

Skye's looked at her instantly. "No way! That's _so_ cool!" She announced. "You have to tell me everything!"

May laughed slightly, but it quickly slid off her face when Ward entered the room a few feet away. "Am I interrupting?" He asked, looking thoroughly confused.

"Did you know May used to be a gymnast?" Skye asked him, awe on her face.

"No, I didn't," Ward replied, looking at May.

"Skye…"

"Oh! Sorry," Skye quickly said, putting a hand over her mouth. "I won't say anything else." She whispered rather loudly.

"What's going on here?" Ward asked skeptically.

May glanced at Skye and saw Fitzsimmons enter the room; why they decided to enter now, she had no idea. Looking at the three other members of the team, she decided that they could be trusted- at least with this. She knew that Skye would want to tell them, and she didn't want to keep it a secret any more. Taking a breath, she glanced at Skye once more; this could be a huge mistake, but she was about to make it. "What do you mean?" She asked Ward.

"Why are you and Skye… laughing? It's strange." Ward commented.

"Yeah…" Fitz muttered.

May clicked pause on the video that was still playing in the background, bringing them to a deadly silence before she spoke. "She's my daughter."

Shocked expressions were evident on all of their faces, their mouths gaping open; it was rather comedic.

May felt relief fill her. Skye was her daughter, she was no longer lost, she was right here. May was now whole again.

* * *

 **This was originally going to be a oneshot, but I just kept on writing, which is why I posted daily for four chapters. And now, it has come to an end! Thank you :D I hope you liked the ending :D**


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